Thursday, March 10, 2011

Preaching Preview for Gaylord

I am in high gear in prayerfully working through the messages and sermon series that we will be using as I begin my new ministry at the Gaylord Evangelical Free Church (GEFC) later this month. I have also had the privilege of spending time on the phone with Joshua Rupp, the Worship Director at GEFC and his Service Planning Teams as we prepare for our partnership together. As of now (but always subject to change), here are the themes of the mornings at GEFC as I begin my partnership with them on March 27th:

March 27: THE STORY CONTINUES – This will be a very special Sunday in the life of GEFC as it will be Pastor Jim’s last Sunday as Lead/Senior Pastor while at the same time being my first Sunday as the new Lead/Senior Pastor of this exciting ministry. I have asked Pastor Jim to help me preach that Sunday. The main theme I want to communicate is that this day is not the ending of one book regarding Pastor Jim and the start of a new book regarding me. No! This is the same book. THE STORY CONTINUES. At best it is simply a new chapter – but still the same book. So to illustrate this, Pastor Jim will take the first half of the message time to share from his heart and I will take the last half of the message time to share from my heart. This should be a very special way to communicate verbally and visually to the church family at GEFC and to the Gaylord Community, that THE STORY CONTINUES!

April 3-17: SIMON SAYS – These three Sundays leading up to Easter we will follow the life of Simon Peter through the evening prior to the crucifixion of Jesus. We will see him as he boldly proclaims to Jesus after the Last Supper, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not!” We will see him as he falls asleep in the garden during the time that Jesus had asked him to “keep watch.” We will see him wield his sword and cut off the ear of a temple guard who came to arrest Jesus. And we will see him deny Jesus in the courtyard of the High Priest, not once – not twice – but three times, just hours after proclaiming to his Lord, “I will not fall away!” These three Sundays will then lead us up to Easter Sunday when we will see two words spoken by the angels at the empty tomb of Jesus that will have even more meaning to you after hearing this three week series.

April 24: HAVE YOU SEEN HIM? – This is Easter Sunday and the theme of the morning is in the form of a question, “Have you seen Him?” Joshua Rupp and the Service Planning Teams have some amazing plans for this special celebration. On that morning we will be splitting the message up into three parts and seeing from Mark 16 how the message of Easter affects us in the past, in the present and in the future. From music, to visual arts, to drama, and more – this will be an amazing Sunday as we celebrate together the message of the angel, “He is not here…He has risen!”

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I am a graduate of Liberty University where I received my Bachelors and Masters Degrees. I have been a full-time pastor since 1987, pastoring churches in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. I currently am the Lead Pastor at the E-Free Free Church in Gaylord, Michigan. My passion is to see people come to faith in Christ through the ministry of the local church.